But There's Room For Two Six Feet Under The Stars
by georgeweasleyscries
Summary: Max gets a diagnosis, and Phoebe finally realizes their family hasn't been a family for awhile. (Title from 6 feet under the stars by All Time Low) cross-posted on my ao3 account


It's the little things. The way he excelled at math, and had trouble reading books she'd been reading for years. The outstanding way he scored on math, and the low grades he got on reading comprehension. It was the letter home saying they needed him to see an educational psychologist. It was the way he bowed his head when his parents were reprimanding him for doing this out of need for attention. It was the results coming back, dyslexia typed perfectly. It was the nauseating turn in her stomach as she watched her parents lips turn down into frowns. It was the hushed arguments that became louder and louder until they were screaming matches. It was the Thunderkids huddled together in Max's lair Billy on Max's lap, Nora on her's and Chloe sandwiched in between. It was the way Max's class schedule got switched around. It was the way one kid called him retarded. It was the way Oyster left the school with bruised knuckles and a suspension for fighting, and the other kid left in an ambulance. It was sitting with Max for God knows how long as he did his work. It was him being too stubborn to admit he needed help at first. He'd gotten by his whole life without it after all. It was reading him passages after he asked. It was her parents refusing to look at their eldest child. It was watching his nose scrunch up on a word trying to piece the letters together. It was basically being able to see the cogs in his brains turning reading a book. It was taking his chronicle, and taunting him about what could possibly be in it. It was the spelling mistakes. All the spelling mistakes. It was Cherry's soft words. "I don't understand, but I know,". It was Cherry admitting she had severe adhd. It was Billy timidly admitting he thinks he has the same. It was the twins suggesting he get it checked, and him immediately shutting them down (he'd seen the way their parents had been treating Max). The twins knew he didn't want that to happen to him, and they knew it wouldn't. It was that she didn't know how to explain to her little brother that it wasn't dyslexia, it was Max. That it had been happening behind closed doors all their lives. That in her parent's eyes this was the cherry on top of the cake for Max. It was that she knew Max felt like a disappointment, and she knew her parents knew it too. It was that she knew Max wasn't.That he'd be a great hero, or villain, or whatever. It was that at sixteen years old, she decided parents were overrated if they couldn't see how wonderful her brother was. It was packing up their bags, that blasted rabbit tucked securely under her brother's arm. It was the mega argument that broke out if they should go to Oyster's or Cherry's. "Oyster's parents wouldn't care," "Yeah! Because they don't care about him, Max!" It was the way his shoulders bowed and his head hung low, "They don't care about me, Pheebs,". It was the way she knew they weren't talking about Oyster's parents anymore. It was the way she nodded her head, and grabbed his hand. (They ended up staying at Allison's instead.) It was the way that Oyster knocked on their door, a split lip and a black eye. (It was the way Allison's parents don't even blink.) It was they way they were teenage runaways, Phoebe got drunk for the first time that night her brother and his best friend high as a kite next to her. Cherry was over, and her and Allison seemed to have ditched the scotch for shotgunning with a roll up. Phoebe wasn't even surprised honestly, if she wasn't so drunk she probably would've asked Max for the money he owed her for losing the bet. A quick glance to the left proved her brother was to occupied playing tongue tango with Oyster to care. It was the way she leaned back on the floor of her best friend's bedroom with her best friends getting handsy, and her brother grinning like he used to when they were kids. It was the fact she missed her siblings something terribly, but made it a point to see them as often as she could (she knew Max did too). It was the way she wondered if they were known as the stoner kids (probably). It was the way Max finally had a family, a messed up, crazy family, but a family. (And so did Oyster, and, and Cherry, and Allison, and her.) It was that they were each other's family!


End file.
